Integrating the Framework for Information Literacy in Music Theory Course Content

Misti Shaw, Indiana University

For music librarians with teaching responsibilities, one perennial challenge has been integrating information literacy skills within music theory course content. Even when music theory professors allot time for a librarian to visit–particularly during freshmen and sophomore years–it is often the case that the library skills session does not explicitly tie into the music theory curriculum. Yet, this challenge is worth surmounting because in most music departments, music theory courses are sequential, offering the perfect setting for a sequential library instruction program to be implemented.

In this presentation, I will summarize my experience with integrating concepts from the Framework for Information Literacy within freshmen music theory course content at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. This experience stems from collaboration with a music theory professor in the context of an information literacy grant awarded by the IU Libraries. In addition to designing an in-class session that incorporated music theory skills, the professor agreed to create an assignment using score errata to incorporate the concept Authority is Constructed and Contextual. I will also discuss a plan for sophomore music theory to use source readings and peer composer criticism relating to musical form in a class discussion that incorporates the concept Scholarship as Conversation. This presentation can be useful for music librarians at any institution with music theory courses.

Categories

2019 MLA Conference in St. Louis

About MLA

The Music Library Association is the professional association for music libraries and librarianship in the United States. Founded in 1931, it has an international membership of librarians, musicians, scholars, educators, and members of the book and music trades. Complementing the Association’s national and international activities are eleven regional chapters that carry out its programs on the local level.